World Trip 2002 - Liverpool
Day 34
Liverpool
was one of the best places I visited on the entire trip. Braving busses once
again I was rewarded by more amusing incidents. I managed to share the bus
with three characters whom I shall call The Mad Bomber, The Drunken Mandella
and Mr Time Warp. There was also The Fat Bastard but he was quite nice and
harmless.
Departing
Victoria Coach station should have been a simple affair. Instead there was
some sort of commotion near the front of the bus as the driver asked a young
man to put some baggage in an overhead locker. The man refused to, holding
on to his bag tightly. I was too far away to hear what was being said, but
I did not miss the sudden look of concern on the bus driver's face. He talked
with the passenger while giving him a weird look and backing away slowly.
He backed right down the stairs to the bus and ran off into the terminal.
Given the weird stuff I had already seen on busses I began to wonder what
was going on now.
The bus driver reappeared shortly with a couple of police officers. The police officers ran on to the bus, turned to the coach driver who was slinking behind them sand yelled. "Right, where is he?" The bus driver pointed at the Mad Bomber and said. "That's him." At this point the police men rushed for the mad bomber, grabbed one arm each, bodily lifted him out of his seat and began to drag him off the bus, one policeman grabbed his package from him. The young man was obviously shocked at this and yelled. "It's not really a bomb. I was only joking!" As he was dragged out of the bus. I found this quite funny because he sounded exactly like Pike from the British comedy show Dad's Army. I half expecting him to yell out "Mr Manniringham!"
The bemused passengers watched the policeman drag the poor individual away. The two bus crew removed his baggage from the bus and apparently decided to drive off before the policemen came back to ask them any more questions.
I was thinking well that's the weird incident for the ride over. But no, there was more!
This was the day of the country lifestyle march when a bunch of people from the English countryside came into town and had this really big picnic in Hyde Park. There was busloads of them. For this reason our bus had to divert south around the park which was no big drama. This was when I noticed the Drunken Mandella waving regally at the crowd and making speeches to himself. I call him the Drunken Mandella because he was obviously drunk, and he looked a lot like Nelson Mandella, a man whom I respect very much.
The Drunken Mandella proceeded to take several swigs from a bottle of scotch or whiskey during the trip. I'm not sure which as I could only guess from the bottle shape and the colour. I don't drink myself you see. Anyway, after making several mumbled speeches to himself during which he made several wide sweeping and regal like waves and salutes the Drunken Mandella decided he wanted to sit in the seat behind the driver. The driver's mate was not too happy, and tried to get him to move. The man agreed to move but just sat there. The driver's mate asked him to move several more times and finally got the man to stand up and start moving. At which point Drunken Mandella just sat right back down again. After perhaps half an hour later he returned to his seat and continued with the speeches again.
I think it was our second stop when Drunken Mandella got out of the bus, walked off and seemed to disappear into one of the shops. We boarded some passengers and proceeded to back off. One of the passengers remarked that Drunken Mandella had left his jacket and bag behind. The driver's mate checked the seat and sure enough, things were still there. The driver gave a blast on the horn as We continued to back away. Drunken Mandella walked out of a shop with a cup of tea in his hand, took one look at the bus and burst out with a look of shock. He stumbled towards the bus, jumped in the opening door and took his seat. Then, he spilled his tea. Not all of it, but enough to make the thing not worth half what he paid for it. Thankfully Drunken Mandella drank the rest of his tea and after making another speech he drifted off to sleep.
The bus headed up through England, past some colorful scenery and pulled into some town to pick up more passengers before eventually coming to a road side stop where We could all get out and eat some food. The bus driver warned us that We had till ten minutes to the hour before We would be leaving. He said if anyone wasn't on the bus he'd leave them behind. He eyed off the Drunken Mandella. The guy obviously got that message. Most rushed into the shops to buy something to eat or over to a pond to feed some ducks. When the time was up We made our way back to the bus. I was relived to see the Drunken Mandella was back on the bus, puffing away at his nicotine inhaler and making those hand movements again.
The driver's mate counted us all, then counted us again. One passenger was missing. This was Mr Time Warp. We sat around waiting for a good fifteen minutes till this guy finally came out of the collection of road side restaurants and walked casually up to the bus to get on. He strode back to his seat, seeming oblivious of the stares and sat down. Our bus driver got on the PA and yelled down the bus; "Can you not tell the time then?" To the passenger. I observed the guy wasn't wearing a watch.
Nothing much else happened for the rest of the trip. We made up some time but pulled into Liverpool a bit late. Thankfully my last bus trip of the holiday, the one up to Glasgow was positively normal with nothing out of the ordinary happening at all.
Not knowing what Bill Douglas looked like, I wasn't quite sure who he was. Thankfully Claire of the Friends of Williamson's Tunnels was wearing a FOWT safety vest and strategically turned her back to the bus so I was able to recognize her and Bill. I have to say I love Bill's Liverpudlian accent. It's great. He sounds a lot like the Beetles. Plus he's always so nice when We spoke on the phone and in person.
I loved Liverpool. The main reason being that my hosts Bill and Claire were such great people and showed me a brilliant day. Having met me at the bus station they then drove me around to see some of Liverpool and then to the Williamson's Tunnels. I was given a comprehensive guided tour, including a section of the tunnels that is not open to the public. Throughout everyone I met at the Williamson's tunnels were very keen to show me a good time and make me feel welcome. I loved seeing the tunnels themselves, but the courtesy shown me was an added bonus. They reminded me a lot of a group of railway enthusiasts. They were very dedicated to their hobby and keen to get work done to open up even more of the tunnels to the public.
Finally at the end of the day Bill and Claire drove me around Liverpool, showing me the historical part of town, driving through one of the Mersy tunnels. Bill took me out to dinner, an unexpected but welcome treat. I had been looking at the prices thinking they were expensive so was quite surprised when Bill kindly offered to pay, saying it was his treat. I found such generosity to be very kind, especially after spending most of the day showing me the tunnels and Liverpool. I was struck by the kindness and hospitality shown to me.
We finished the day by dropping me off at the youth hostel. Bill drove past it twice as just up the road from it was a big yellow submarine which I missed photographing. The youth hostel was also the best one that I stayed at, very nice and welcoming staff, clean and relatively quiet. I received a warm and genuine welcome, not at all like some I had received in Washington or Toronto. I particularly liked how they prepared me a take away breakfast for me when I mentioned I had an early start.
Day 35
From Liverpool I traveled on to Glasgow.
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